Proficient — Building Your A-Game

At proficient level, the curriculum stops being about what to learn and starts being about what to specialise in. This page is a framework for the A-game decision — the choice of primary system a proficient grappler builds their competitive identity around.

What an A-game is

An A-game is not a technique or a position — it is a connected sequence of positions, attacks, and transitions the grappler has developed to the point of operational reliability. Under pressure, at fatigue, against skilled resistance, the A-game still functions. Everything else is the B-game — tools you use when the situation calls for them, but not where you plant your flag.

Every competitive grappler at proficient level has an A-game whether they named it or not. The naming matters because it lets you develop it deliberately.

The selection problem

The selection question is: “What is my A-game?” The mistake most proficient grapplers make is trying to answer this abstractly — picking a system that looks appealing in competition footage or that a favoured instructor emphasises. The better answer is to work backward from what you have already demonstrated.

Questions to ask:

• What positions do I reach repeatedly in live rolling without trying to reach them?
• What submissions have I finished on resistant opponents at my level and above?
• What transitions feel inevitable — where the next step always seems obvious?
• What body type, fitness profile, and injury history do I have?

The answers reveal your A-game’s rough shape before you choose it. Selection is formalising what’s already happening, not inventing something new.

Selection criteria

Four criteria to weigh when selecting the A-game system:

1. Skill stack. Which system rewards the invariables you already have? A mechanical, pressure-based grappler will not thrive on a high-pace-scramble A-game.
2. Body fit. Short, stocky body types have advantages in some systems (half-guard, leg entanglements) and disadvantages in others (long-levered guards). Tall, long grapplers have opposite advantages.
3. Ruleset fit. If you primarily compete in IBJJF no-gi, leg-lock-centric A-games are constrained. In ADCC or sub-only, they’re central. Choose to match where you compete.
4. Sustainability. Some A-games stress the body in specific ways. A standing-heavy A-game wears the knees; a back-attack-heavy A-game wears the lats and shoulders. A 50-year-old proficient grappler should not be running the same A-game as a 25-year-old.

The three-layer A-game structure

An A-game has three layers:

1. The entry layer. How you get into the primary position. An A-game’s entries need to work from standing, from guard, and from scrambles — otherwise the primary position is unreachable against a competent opponent.
2. The primary position. The position you build the A-game around. A guard system, a passing system, a back-control style, a leg-entanglement style. One position; not several.
3. The finishing layer. The submissions or decisive outcomes you score from the primary position. Usually 2–3 primary finishes plus the dilemma-opening transitions. See submission systems.

A complete A-game has all three. An A-game with only the primary position (“I’m a half-guard player”) is incomplete — without entries you cannot reach it, without finishes it does not score.

The connective layer

The layer that turns three separate layers into one A-game is the connective tissue — the transitions and dilemmas that make each layer inevitable given the previous. The dilemmas page covers the general concept. The A-game-specific version: every position in your A-game should open exactly one other A-game position through a dilemma.

Example connective paths:

• Entry (arm drag) → Primary (back control) → Finish (RNC or bow-and-arrow based on defender’s response).
• Entry (knee-cut pass setup) → Primary (half-guard top) → Finish (smash pass to submissions or back take based on defender’s response).
• Entry (butterfly guard) → Primary (X guard and SLX) → Finish (leg entanglements or sweep based on defender’s posture).

The B-game and failure modes

The A-game fails sometimes. The B-game is what you have when it does. At proficient level, the B-game is typically the developing-level system content you decided not to specialise in — still available, still reasonably sharp, just not where you plant your flag.

Failure modes to plan for:

• A-game denied from the outset. Opponent’s style or body type takes away your entries. You need a B-game entry path that reaches a secondary A-game position or a different primary.
• Primary position neutralised. You reach it but cannot attack from it. Your B-game here is transitions out of the position to something else — not grinding the A-game.
• Finish denied. You reach and control but cannot finish. The A-game’s finishing layer needs multiple outcomes, not one — see the dilemmas concept.

The development cycle

Once the A-game is selected, development follows a cycle:

1. Targeted drilling. Drill the primary position transitions 3–4 times the volume of everything else.
2. Specific sparring. Start rolls from the primary position or its immediate entries. Reset when the position is lost.
3. Open sparring with intention. Normal rolling, but actively navigating toward A-game positions.
4. Analysis. Review recorded rolls or competition footage. Where did the A-game open? Where did it close? Where did you end up instead?
5. Refinement. Fix the most common failure point in the next drilling block.

A full development cycle takes months — not weeks. Proficient-level A-game development is a multi-year project.

Common A-game mistakes

• Selecting aspirationally rather than descriptively. Picking the A-game of a grappler whose body and skills do not resemble your own.
• Selecting too narrowly. “My A-game is the armbar.” An A-game is a system, not a technique.
• Selecting too broadly. “My A-game is the guard.” Guard is a category, not a primary position.
• Abandoning the A-game too early. A-games take time to develop. Switching after six months of bad rolls is usually premature.
• Never refining. Treating the A-game as fixed. It evolves — positions get added, failure modes get patched, finishes rotate as competitors figure them out.

See also: competition preparation for how to translate A-game development into specific ruleset preparation.